The lure of hidden death: development of an attract-and-kill strategy against Agriotes obscurus (Coleoptera: Elateridae) combining semiochemicals and entomopathogenic nematodes

Wireworms are polyphagous soil-dwelling pests that are hard to control. Attract-and-kill strategies, combining attractive semiochemicals with biocontrol agents, have great promise to control insect pests. We hypothesized that the combination of plant semiochemicals and entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) in an attract-and-kill system could greatly enhance the nematodes’ efficiency against wireworms. We evaluated the potential of alginate beads loaded with plant extracts and EPNs to control Agriotes obscurus. We tested the efficiency to kill wireworms or to reduce their feeding activity when combining potato tuber extracts as attractants with any of seven different EPN populations.